Malloy Bridgewater deal for Stamford dead

Published 8:03 pm, Friday, June 27, 2014

Bridgewater Associates' headquarters complex on Glendinning Place, where the hedge fund has decided to remain instead of moving to Stamford.

Bridgewater Associates' headquarters complex on Glendinning Place, where the hedge fund has decided to remain instead of moving to Stamford.

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Malloy Bridgewater deal for Stamford dead

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STAMFORD -- Despite $115 million in state incentives organized at the highest levels of state government, the world's largest hedge fund has decided not to relocate its headquarters to Stamford.

"After careful examination and reflection surrounding the challenges, time, energy, and resources needed to bring the proposed Stamford project to completion, we have decided not to proceed with the move," Westport-based Bridgewater Associates said through its public relations firm.

The deal would have provided the company $115 million in incentives, including a low-interest forgivable loan, tax credits, and grants for training and renewable energy systems as part of a project to build a massive headquarters on a 14-acre peninsula at the harbor.

In exchange for the state aid, Bridgewater, which manages more than $150 billion in global investments, would have added 1,000 hires over the next decade to the more than 1,200 people it employs in the state if it moved from Westport to Stamford. Bridgewater was also expected to invest $750 million in building a new headquarters.

In its statement, the hedge fund thanked Gov. Dannel Malloy, who personally unveiled the deal to the news media nearly two years ago.

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"We are particularly thankful to Gov. Malloy for doing his utmost to make this opportunity possible," the Bridgewater statement said. "We are now exploring our other options."

The firm offered no details on what those options may be.

In response to the failed deal, which comes in an election year, Malloy's office said it would continue to support such incentives to lure businesses to the state.

"For a long time, our state failed to compete for the kinds of good paying jobs with good benefits that will grow and sustain our economy," Malloy's Deputy Press Secretary David Bednarz said in an email Friday. "Working as a partner with our business community, we can make sure that Connecticut businesses can do what we need them to do: grow good-paying jobs here in Connecticut."

We will continue working with employers -- both large and small -- in our efforts to regain Connecticut's economic competitiveness."

Malloy had touted the Bridgewater deal, which was part of his Next Five Program, as evidence that Connecticut is willing to compete with other states to retain and grow its financial service sector. The move came just a couple of months after Edward Lampert announced he was moving his $10.5 billion hedge fund, ESL Investments, out of Connecticut to Florida.

Back then, the governor said, "Thanks to the Next Five program, we are clearly charting a new course. The jobs we are announcing today have the potential to grow our economy in a profound way because the spin-off effect of these positions will drive growth in other sectors.

"To have a company of Bridgewater's stature make the business decision to invest $750 million in our state and significantly increase its workforce is not only an extraordinary economic 'win,' but signals to the rest of the world that Connecticut is strengthening its leadership position in the very competitive financial services sector."

Bridgewater's decision to not move to Stamford is not seen as a loss, especially in Westport.

Jim Marpe, Westport's first selectman, said the hedge fund had just received an approval from the town's Planning and Zoning Board that will allow it to make some improvements to the building they already own in Westport.

During that hearing, a lawyer for the hedge fund indicated the likelihood of a move to Stamford was low and executives had already decided to keep the executive offices in Westport.

Bridgewater Associates is the largest employer in Westport and the town's third largest taxpayer, with holdings assessed at $25,478,050 on the 2013 grand list. The fund also occupies space in Wilton.

The hedge fund's headquarters is housed in a three-story, 47,314-square-foot complex at 1 Glendinning Place. While it got approval from the Westport zoning agency to expand, Bridgewater so far has filed no definite plans for enlarging the Glendinning campus, although some kind of new parking facilities may be among the options, according to informal discussion at the zoning hearings earlier this year.

"We're thrilled to retain Bridgewater as a member of our business community," Marpe said. "They're good citizens."

Marpe said he had no insight into whether Bridgewater plans to remain in Westport or move to another community. But he said he has met with the firm's management and discussed whether there was anything Westport could do to encourage them to keep some operations in town.

In Stamford, the news that the deal was dead was not a shock, as rumors had been swirling for at least four or five months that there were doubts about it.

The main point of controversy over the proposed move was the location of the site chosen by Building & Land Technology, the developer of the Harbor Point project. A boat yard at the site had been shut down just several months before the deal was announced, sparking protests. The original plan was for Bridgewater to move in by 2017.

A spokeswoman for the developer said the public outcry over the loss of the boat yard had made it clear that Bridgewater needed to look elsewhere.

"Bridgewater has been very patient throughout the development process, and it's understandable that they need to explore options outside of Stamford at this point," Building & Land Technology said through spokeswoman Roxanne Donovan late Friday afternoon. "This process has made all of Stamford aware that the former Yacht Haven site has tremendous potential to provide public access to the waterfront and to be a key component of the redevelopment of Stamford's waterfront as an asset to be enjoyed by all of Stamford's residents. We look forward to working with the City to realize this potential."

When asked whether BLT has any idea what future redevelopment of the waterfront site may entail, Donovan was mum.

Maureen Boylan, Save our Boatyard Founder, was one of those who fought the proposal.

"We're very happy Bridgewater is not coming to the boat yard site, which we assumed all along," she said. "But it's a loss to the city of Stamford with its 29 percent empty commercial occupancy rate. They could be here in Stamford."

Boylan says she knows what should happen at the site.

"Now it's time for BLT to put the boat yard back," she said, pledging, "We will fight long and hard until the boat yard is returned."

Mayor David Martin, who took office Dec. 1, was out of town Friday and unavailable for comment. His chief of staff, Michael Pollard, said the mayor's office heard Friday afternoon that Bridgewater had abandoned its plan to move to Stamford.

"We had talked to Bridgewater multiple times and each of those times we made it very clear that we very much wanted them to come," Pollard said. "We would have welcomed them like we've welcomed so many other companies. We've got an environment and an economy that's very attractive, it just happened not to work out for Bridgewater."

Moving forward, Pollard said the administration plans to look for ways to make the city's project approval process more efficient.

"We know there were a lot of issues with this project, but two years is a lot of time for someone to assess whether they want to or not move to your area," Pollard said.

The administration has not yet had time to consider what will happen now with the South End site on which Bridgewater had hoped to build its headquarters.

"We just got the news today so we have to kind of think through it and see what all this means," Pollard said.

In the business community, it was expected.

"I'm not surprised," said Joe McGee, vice president and director of Public Policy for the Business Council of Fairfield County. "It's a shame, it would have been good for Stamford."

But McGee said city opposition to the project was very strong and development of the boat yard was controversial and the process has been dragging on for months, so it made sense for Bridgewater to look elsewhere.

"I wish them well. It's a great company to have in Connecticut," he said.